Preordering is not inherently a bad thing. If it's a studio you love and trust, go for it. It'll be fine if you go into it knowing that there's a minute risk of the game not turning out the way you thought it would but really, that's why research is your friend. Do a deep dive on the studio, view all of the promotional material, weigh the decision thoughtfully.

People who insist that ALL preordering is bad are just bitter about being burned in the past. There's literally nothing wrong with it. If you don't want to do it, don't do it, just don't whine when other people feel like they want to do it. It's THEIR money at risk, not yours.

1. I pre-ordered Cyberpunk and was happy I did so. Great game (on PC anyway).

2. Wrath of the Righteous is basically Kingmaker again, and nowhere near as buggy as that game was at release because it inherits that game's fixes and such. Playing it now, 20 hours in, and having a great time.

I pre-order when I trust a developer basically, and am very rarely disappointed. I'm having a hard time even remembering a time I was disappointed and wish I hadn't done so. That said, I'm pretty good about knowing what I like and I only play a few genres.

Hello chimera2025!

I guess that I am belonging to the group of people who got burned before...

My only experience with pre-order per-se was in 2006 with the release of "The Elderscrolls IV: Oblivion".
I was a huge fan of "Morrowind" and alike, and fell for the hype, so I pre-ordered a copy of the collector's edition at a local electronic/game store. I say "fell", because what I did not know at the time of pre-order (one week in advance to the release date) was that the localized game came with a horrendous and faulty translation!
None of the (local) promotional material showcased anything of the localization, nor did any of the usual magazine testers mentioned something about it or additional errors/bugs only present in the localized game at release.

The localization was so bad, that the very same collector's edition was returned or pre-orders were cancelled in numerous amounts leading to a price drop down to less than half the original pre-order prize in the first couple of weeks!

It took me almost half a year to get my hands on an imported original English language version of "Oblivion" before I really started the game.

I also asked a couple of times at my favorite store, if they could reserve me an exemplar of a new game (e.g. "Experience 112", "Myst VI: End of Ages", and "Lost Horizon") at least for a day or two before I was able to come pick it up. Luckily, I did not had to pay a pre-order fee for those cases.

Nowadays, I do not see any benefit in pre-ordering a digital good, at all. On the contrary, if a pre-order includes something only a little more important than a cosmetic goody, for instance, additional specialized equipment or extra content, then I am more likely to completely loose interest in the game. Furthermore, many games' development or pre-order phase which I watched or observed released with significantly higher system requirements than prognosed or aimed for beforehand. Often times it meant incompatibility with my current system setup at the time or release.
Hence, I do not intend to support such business practices.


Until more or less recently, I would have said the same thing of abstaining from crowd-funding campaigns and "in Development" or "Early Access" titles, as well. But I did an exception for three "in Development" games here at GOG.com, which already seem quite "feature complete" and in a for me very satisfying overall playable state, such as "Dorfromantik" and now "dV: Rings of Saturn". Basically, when I am able to get out enough value in terms of current entertainment and playtime, I do not mind anymore, in case the development goes in a direction which I do not like or the product gets abandoned further down the road.

After some research on the state of the current state of the product and intended development steps, I decide whether the game fits my arbitrary standard of quality and if I am eager to play it immediately. Are the answers to both of these questions "yes", then, I am considering a purchase even of an "in Development" game depending on the prize.


What you might want to consider are current state / quality (or reputation of the developer and publisher), urgency & possibility to play immediately, and overall prize before buying a product in pre-order or in development.

Kind regards,
foxgog

just NEVER preorder , easy
you will get these games way cheaper one year after release most of the time
and by then you know if it is good or not from reviews
thats why you have to wait for your food,
just go there and see if anything is rdy and looks good and buy those

True, as there's no chance of stock running out for a digital product. I think the new way publishers are gonna try and trick customers into preordering games is gonna be what I'd call "Crowdfunding Features", the developers will cry poor and say they only have a limited budget, BUT if they get X number of preorders they will add some feature to the game. Basically publishers/devs will start pretending to be poor indies.

The only reason for me to preorder a game is to demonstrate my support, early on, to the developer/publisher.

So that is why I preordered both The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077. I haven't properly played either game yet, still waiting for my next gaming PC that can play both comfortably (my current PC can play TW3 passably, not comfortably), and I am yet to play and finish The Witcher 1-2 anyway...

So my reason to preorder those two games was definitely not so that I could play them right after release. Quite the opposite, I generally rather wait until the games get some critical fixes and maybe some expansion packs that will come anyway.

The last time I "preordered", or at least tried to, a game because I was in such a hurry to play it, was probably Dungeon Master on Commodore Amiga 500. "Preordering" in that case meaning that I tried to get my big brother to order and bring it to me directly from US or A, as it was supposed to be released there before Europe. I just didn't want to wait, but in the end I think I had to wait for the European release anyway.

Never understood this standpoint, why would you need to “support” them? It’s a simple transaction like anything else, they make something, I buy it if I want it. They are not my friend, no reason for me to support them. You don’t go to the supermarket, realise they don’t have your bread out and then pay for it anyway as it will likely be in at some point in the future just to support the supermarket? If anything, games devs are far less worth “supporting” as higher rate of fail or pushing out something that wasn’t planned or is broken.

Spent most of my life not only not preordering games but never buying new releases either, nor paying full launch price for anything with very very few exceptions to the latter. I never saw the point of paying for something before you get it unless there was some major incentive that was actually worth it, and only then doing it a day before the deal ends, but that's just me.

With Witcher 3 I was all hyped up about the game like most people and held CDPR in high esteem so I considered it. Then I read news about GreenManGaming selling shady GOG keys from origin unknown and animosity between the two companies as a result. I felt that GMG was being shady so to resolve my outrage I bought Witcher 3 preorder about 4 days before release as a sort of sign of solidarity with GOG and CDPR, and I stopped shopping at GMG.

Since then, I bought Starcraft Remastered a day before it was released as it was $20 and I knew I was going to get it anyway and never had a thought in my mind about it being bad. It turned out to be a great remaster IMHO so that went well as well.

Next was Cyberpunk 2077 which I bought about a week ahead of time, also with the "CDPR can do no wrong" mindset. Oops. Thankfully CDPR taught me a life lesson before I repeated this mistake too many more times!

My final pre-order was buying Subnautica Below Zero in January before they doubled the price of the early access game leading up to the retail release. I figured the game was going to be as good as the first one most likely, and that they had supported the original game very well, way beyond what I would have expected, so I might as well save $20. I really enjoyed what I've played of Subnautica Below Zero so far and only encountered 2 bugs which are probably the same underlying bug... parts of my base disappearing at random with no guaranteed way to make it come back. This is notably a big problem if you build a base above ground which I built several, and can't get into them because the stairs do not spawn in, or they spawn out. Sometimes you can partly deconstruct them and reconstruct them and they work, other times they don't at all. I got annoyed and put the game on hold. I should also mention that I didn't start playing this game until it's official public release - not the early access version. Anyhow I waited for them to patch the game and it's been 3-4 months with no sign of any patches so I'm a bit disappointed that they've taken so long.

In the end, I've decided I will not ever buy pre-order games again ever from any company. The gaming industry has trained all gamers to get have completed products that are buggy, unstable and may never get fixed, and I don't want to support that.

So from now on I more or less just get free games from Epic, GOG, Steam, Humble Bundle and other sites, and when big mega sales are on or perhaps the occasional bundle, I'll pick up AAA games from 8 years ago for $2 or whatever. I'm in no big hurry to play any new releases, and a game always runs better on a computer 8 years from now than one from right now anyway so I get a better experience. (by 8 years it might actually be 1 or 3 or 5 or whatever)

Well, I can't say never, but it's very unlikely I'll buy pre-orders or even new releases anymore. When the expansion packs come out for Cyberpunk 2077 it will excite me a bit, but they'll come out and time will pass. More time will pass. Then more time will pass. The 2nd expansion will come out. Time will pass, then more time... Then they'll release the super holy shit everything mega boxed set Cyberpunk 2077 BOTY Edition (bug of the year). Time will pass, then more time... a big mega sale will come on where it is 50% or more off and if the expansions got good reviews and ratings AND the game was patched and fixed up to the level that they have claimed they intend to "to deliver what they promised and what gamers expected"... then I might buy it and get excited again.

Just to be clear, don't get me wrong... Cyberpunk is a lot of fun and I've done 2 playthroughs, but it wasn't what was advertised and still isn't, so I'd be a fool to not change my purchase habits accordingly. I have high hopes for the future of the franchise but time will tell. No pre-orders though, that ship sailed.

A better analogy, instead of a supermarket, would be that you pay in advance to the small corner store for the bread that they make themselves and you happen to like a lot.

Why do you pay in advance to that small corner store? Who knows, there must be a reason why they ask you if you could possibly pay in advance. maybe it makes it easier for them to buy the ingredients for your bread and helps them that way. You figure, yeah ok, I like what you are doing and I trust you, so if you want me to pay in advance for the best bread in the whole wide world, okay then.

Not that different from kickstarts that people want to help materializing, by chipping in in advance.

And yeah, in the case of The Witcher 3 and CP2077 it was also partly showing support to GOG.com. I know you nowadays hate their guts etc., but that is your problem, not mine.

Nope, I wouldn’t pre pay for bread. Might consider investing if I thought the business was a good one, if I am to purchase something, then it’s a contract for me to acquire something for a given value. Probably an old concept now though with the rise of Kickstarter and such like, although they are like heavy gambling investments.

The exact same argument you use for gaming could be used for crypto. The fact that you don't see that shows how you are blinded by the hobby you choose. There are a lot of people who think that gaming wastes an "inordinate amount of energy" as well. Case in point, the fact that some states are banning gaming PC's for the energy that they use. I obviously butthurt a lot of people in this thread. I guess I touched their golden calf. I find that funny.

In response to some other people, TONS of people pay for products before they are delivered. I don't think people wait to get something before they order a product online. There is just way too much grandstanding and hypocrisy from people in this thread. I am out on this one.

We can agree to disagree. No social good is generated by the creation of an investment bubble based upon speculative "goods" (I hesitate to even call crypto "currencies" goods) with zero intrinsic value. At least playing video games supports a sustainable creative industry generating employment, tax revenue etc. Are there less energy intensive hobbies? Sure - I'm the first person to suggest that someone should read a good book.

Crypto on the other hand is a more energy intensive version of Tulip-mania that is going to leave a lot of people burned when the speculative bubble bursts.

I'm not sure what you mean by butthurting people - I'm guessing that's an American reference that I don't get.

I guess we can disagree. But then why continue to try to argue the point. I guess this is part of the problem. Every argument you make, I can make about crypto. Even all of the things you like about the gaming industry can be said to exist in crypto as well. People are employed in it, There is tax revenue, This industry has been sustained for over 11 years(how many years would have it have to exist for that to be proven.) And the fact that people are trying to create a currency that would prevent governments form abusing people, yeah that is a benefit that video games don't have. In addition, video game companies as employers have been some of the most exploitative group of the bunch. So I don't really see how that is a positive for gaming. There have been several bubbles with crypto, but the industry as a whole is not one. It has gone up and it has gone down. It is not a consistent bubble. That is just a mischaracterization.

As for the butthurt comment. Yeah that is pretty American. I forget this is a mostly European site sometimes.

Preordering sends a message to the developer that they have fans who trust them to have made a good game and want to try it. When Catequesis comes out, I will instabuy, without waiting for opinions of journos or heaven forbid streamers. And I might as well preorder.

Furthermore, I believe a lot of the charm of videogames comes from getting to interact with an unfamiliar system. If I watch letsplays to see if I like it, I will lose out on that; a lot of the games (I prefer shorter games) would boil down to "repeat after the guy in the video". And where's the fun in that? That's a job! I already have one. I'd rather take the risk of buying garbage from time to time than give up on having fun.

I didn't preorder Pathfinder 2, but it's more due to the nature of the game, it looks astoundingly unexciting. All of the magic has been drained out of fantasy by this new generation of writers who've never experienced anything except other media. (Another symption of the same is the proliferation of isekai - have you noticed that more often than not, the popadanec interacts with an in-universe fictional story? "I don't like this story, here's how I'd rewrite it" is the most people can dream of. Even the escapism has gone soy.) Look at these character portraits: not a single one of them has, well, character.

I didn't buy Ys 9 either, but that was due to the price difference on GOG and Steam. Having to pay 3.5 times the price for DRM-free is an insult. I can get DRM-free for free. Still, I wouldn't refuse a gift of Ys 9. I would refuse Pathfinder 2.